Did I mess up my life?

HangTime · 18 May 2006 at 02:34

No, I wouldn't say you have messed up your life, as you are still young.

Staying on at college and going to uni isn't the be-all and end-all. I graduated 5 years ago and I'm still earning well below average national wage, in fact I'd likely be much better off if I'd gone straight into employment after A-levels. If you aren't likely to do a course properly and attain a decent grade, I think it's often best to be brave and drop out as you have done.

My advice is don't look at the past and wonder 'what if....?' about decisions you have taken. What is more important are the decisions that you take from this point forward - you have the power to choose the direction your life will take (to some extent).

jpmonkey69 · 18 May 2006 at 08:45

If you know you want to work with computers, get out of the repair shop job you work at now and get a job at a company that will.

1) Give you domain knowledge.
2) Give you training.

I've been in IT for 9 years now... I am currently trying to decide what Open University course to do to help me progress.

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 08:59

Blimey you guys got a talking done didn't you. I'll join you in that Aus trip Dave (Pooly), we'll drop in on you Zip on the way to car bombing my ex's house they own in Adelaide. Should be fun

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 09:32

jpmonkey69 said:
If you know you want to work with computers, get out of the repair shop job you work at now and get a job at a company that will.

1) Give you domain knowledge.
2) Give you training.

I've been in IT for 9 years now... I am currently trying to decide what Open University course to do to help me progress.

Thats basically what I'm looking for, I want a position that will give me training that will allow me to advance and improve myself.

I already have domain knowledge

already maintain an active server, bought myself one just to get me some knowledge into them.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 09:33

Zefan said:
Blimey you guys got a talking done didn't you. I'll join you in that Aus trip Dave (Pooly), we'll drop in on you Zip on the way to car bombing my ex's house they own in Adelaide. Should be fun

I'm up for Australia, I've got relatives there as well. You up for a tour Zef?

PinkPig · 18 May 2006 at 09:42

The title of your post is the most worrying thing here for me - whatever happens, you have certainly not "messed up your life". You will find work that you enjoy in the end, qualifications aren't everything. Even if you think you want them, there's plenty of opportunities to get them later on.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 09:43

PinkPig said:
The title of your post is the most worrying thing here for me - whatever happens, you have certainly not "messed up your life". You will find work that you enjoy in the end, qualifications aren't everything. Even if you think you want them, there's plenty of opportunities to get them later on.

Not my words trust me, its the things my parents say now and again.

I hope I will find work :confused:

Thanks for your positive words

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 09:44

Poolybit said:
I'm up for Australia, I've got relatives there as well. You up for a tour Zef?

Definitely

After ski season etc we'll look in to it tbh.

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 09:46

Poolybit said:
its the things my parents say now and again.

A solution to all parent problems

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 09:46

Zefan said:
Definitely After ski season etc we'll look in to it tbh.

Kool kool, I'll have to get some cash together though, which means some temp work IMO.

VIRII · 18 May 2006 at 09:49

Poolybit said:
Does any one have any advice or comments on whether I've bummed up here or whether I should stick at it and keep trying? Anyone got any personal experiences that relate?

I'm getting a bit downhearted from people saying "You've screwed up this time".

I changed career path following redundancy in my late 20's from a production planning/purchasing role to mechanical engineering.

It worked out very, very well for me and I love my work. Never too late to make a change in your life, just the later you leave it the harder it gets. Not many people want a 28 year old apprentice lol.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 09:56

VIRII said:
I changed career path following redundancy in my late 20's from a production planning/purchasing role to mechanical engineering.

It worked out very, very well for me and I love my work. Never too late to make a change in your life, just the later you leave it the harder it gets. Not many people want a 28 year old apprentice lol.

Its always good to hear a success story rather than a "I'm still stuck where I have been for years" one. I'm at a good stage I suppose cause of my age, I'm young, but it always means people don't take me as seriously when applying for jobs.

Getting apprenticeships ain't easy either

I applied for one in BT and they STILL haven't replied, sifting through the thousands of applications no doubt.

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 09:58

Poolybit said:
people don't take me as seriously when applying for jobs.

Should stop wearing the clown suit

No really I understand how age can twist employers opinions of you before they've even read your application, it's highly annoying.

Noxis · 18 May 2006 at 10:01

Nothing to worry about

You just need to get your foot in the door in a IT department or a IT company.

I did all my GCSE's fine, completely fudged my A-Levels (came out with none) thereby screwing up my Uni place... ended up doing a poxy Computer Science HND (that was incredibly easier than the A-Levels) and then took a £13k a year job doing 1st Line "Technical" Support (that was actually customer service) at an ISP.

Skip forward 4 years and I am a Unix Systems Administrator at the same company that required absolutly zero qualifications.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 10:03

Noxis said:
Nothing to worry about You just need to get your foot in the door in a IT department or a IT company.

I did all my GCSE's fine, completely fudged my A-Levels (came out with none) thereby screwing up my Uni place... ended up doing a poxy Computer Science HND (that was incredibly easier than the A-Levels) and then took a £13k a year job doing 1st Line "Technical" Support (that was actually customer service) at an ISP.

Skip forward 4 years and I am a Unix Systems Administrator at the same company that required absolutly zero qualifications.

Yay, someone else whose succeeded in IT without A levels

Thats what I'm trying to do at the moment, I'm trying to get my foot into the door, I'm even applying for help desk jobs, at least I can move on from there.

VIRII · 18 May 2006 at 10:27

Poolybit said:
Its always good to hear a success story rather than a "I'm still stuck where I have been for years" one. I'm at a good stage I suppose cause of my age, I'm young, but it always means people don't take me as seriously when applying for jobs.

Getting apprenticeships ain't easy either I applied for one in BT and they STILL haven't replied, sifting through the thousands of applications no doubt.

I've related this story here before so I'll summarise it in as few words as possible to avoid boring people.

I was working in purchasing, got made redundant. My work meant that I had worked closely with engineers and in the back of my head I knew I wanted to be doing their job not mine.
Redundancy was a bitter blow, took a retail management job, hated it and applied for college. Retail job did not like me wanting to do Engineering at college and refused to give me time off (was happy to work weekends just wanted at least 1 weekday per week for college). So they demoted me to shopfloor assistant with paycut to match.

I eventually quit and took a van driving job that did allow me a weekday for college but had to work every saturday (even out of term time) in repayment and the money sucked terribly.

College were dubious about me due to my age and van driving occupation and it took some effort to persuade them to allow me on the HNC. However once on the course my age and relative maturity coupled with my previous maths A level etc made me a better candidate than many.

I did very well on the course and impressed the tutors. The fact that it also cost me a huge amount of my salary in fees wasn't unnoticed.

One of the tutors got me an interview with a firm who took me on the shop floor doing semi skilled assembly. Money was better than van driving but still poor but I no longer had to work saturdays AND I got paid time off to go to college.

Anyway that was my foot in the door and it was a long time ago. I'm now on pretty good money (especially for engineering) and I utterly love my job. You just have to stick at it and believe in yourself, work hard, don't give up and take opportunities as they come up. It is never too late. All in all from redundancy to getting into my current line of work took about 6 or 7 years, a lot of debt, a lot of hard work and some luck. I'd do it again though, but I know that I don't give in when the going gets tough.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 11:25

VIRII said:
I've related this story here before so I'll summarise it in as few words as possible to avoid boring people....
.

Yea, I'm glad to hear that your utterly happy with your job, thats what I want. And I know its going to be hard work getting there and im ready to do that, I just don't want to get stuck doing a job that I hate and be stuck there for the rest of my life, thats partially one of the reasons I'm being so choosy now with the jobs that I apply for because I know if i got accepted for a lousy job I'd take it cause of the money.

Thanks for the advice and positive example.

Shaz]sigh[ · 18 May 2006 at 12:10

I was an oxbridge candidate but due to a few... reasons I dropped out too.

Anyhow, I'm 24 next year and I'll be on the upper tax bracket with a view to increase my wages by a good 30% in the next year.

Life is what you make of it.

If you're a dosser, you're doomed. If you're intelligent and go for it, you'll get anywhere.

Forgot to say, I'm in "IT" as such.

Ripper · 18 May 2006 at 12:50

I think you just have to stick to whatever you choose to do. I remember choosing to go to college instead of doing A levels. Left all my friends and started the most boring course ever (BTEC national IT), and followed it up with an even more boring HND in internet technology. Whilst I havn't enjoyed the past 4 years of education, dropping out has never crossed my mind since I've always looked at the bigger picture and realised I'm never going to succeed in my chosen career (teaching) without these qualifications. Still got 3 years left as well (2 years to top up to a degree, and 1 year PGCE).

ZXSpectrum · 18 May 2006 at 13:00

I think in a lot of IT related companies now its more about what you can do and not what a piece of paper says you can do... I did numerous jobs then went to uni on a mature student course (Yeah right) and got into uni... Started but it was mostly boring and the computer studies course was a bit of a joke tbh (I did an entire semester of work in 1 afternoon) So got a job at a local store and ended up running it.. then the boss became disinterested and moved to spain. So a friend put me in touch with a company and i got the job and have been here for almost 4 years... Earning half as much again as i was before and an appreciated asset. Get the knowledge and experience and you should be fine...